


Help My Worlds Collide

by Katyakora



Series: CWAweek2018 [4]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Gratuitous puns, Multi, Polyamory Negotiations, polyamorous v
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-18 01:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14842769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katyakora/pseuds/Katyakora
Summary: Barry wants to have a date night with both his wife and his boyfriend. Unfortunately, he's running a little late.





	Help My Worlds Collide

**Author's Note:**

> Coldwestallen week Day 4: Food
> 
> Title from In The Middle by Dodie  
> I have never had to think of so many puns in my life. Hope they're not too shitty.

“Wow, you are right on time.”

 

Iris suppressed the urge to grimace at the inane comment the moment it left her lips. This evening was going to be awkward enough even without her starting things off sounding like an idiot. Thankfully, her guest just quirked his lips in a smirk and gave her a knowing look.

 

“Unlike some people, I appreciate punctuality.”

 

Iris suppressed a chuckle at that, knowing full well that he was talking about Barry. Who was currently twenty minutes late.

 

“Makes a nice change. Also nice of you to actually use the front door,” she answered, stepping back from the doorway and gesturing into her apartment. “ Please, come in.”

 

“Not my preferred method of entry, true, but breaking in just isn’t the same when you’ve been invited.” 

 

Leonard sauntered into the room, making a show of being at ease entering her home. He seemed almost underdressed to Iris, his signature navy coat having been traded for a glossy leather jacket tonight. He looked around the room with undisguised interest, taking in the decor and the photos hanging around the room. 

 

“Uh, can I take your jacket?” Iris asked as she shut the door, at a loss as to what to say. 

 

He turned from his perusal and arched a brow at her, his eyes twinkling with amusement and surprise.

 

“Well, it seems chivalry isn’t dead after all,” he quipped, slipping off the jacket and handing it to her.

 

“We’ll see how long it lasts,” Iris responded glibly, hanging his jacket by the door. “Make yourself at home. Barry’s not here yet, but he shouldn’t be far away.”

 

“Barry Allen is running late?” Leonard drawled. “I’ll try to contain my shock.” He gracefully flopped down onto the couch, lounging with his long legs stretched out and over the armrest.

 

Iris snorted and headed towards the kitchen area. “I’ve already opened a bottle of wine, if you want some.”

 

“I wouldn’t turn down a glass.”

 

Iris busied herself pouring them both a liberal glass of the cabernet Barry had gotten especially for tonight. She couldn’t seem to keep her eyes from drifting to the dinner table, which was already set and laden with the evening’s meal. Iris sighed, knowing it was probably already getting cold. She brought Leonard his wine and sat down herself on the adjacent armchair, sipping her own glass.

 

“Mmm, not bad,” Leonard murmured appreciatively. “Where is Barry, anyway? After the big deal he made of this, I expected to find him whipping about the place making everything perfect.”

 

“Oh, he was. And then he realised we didn’t have anything for dessert and went to get some. That was almost an hour ago.”

 

“Distracted rescuing kittens from trees, no doubt,” Leonard drawled.

 

“He’ll be here eventually,” Iris assured him, feeling mildly defensive of her husband. Leonard smirked.

 

“I've no doubt, but a little warning might have been nice.”

 

“True,” she agreed. Knowing she and Leonard would be alone together right off the bat would have allowed her to prepare to deal with him without Barry as a buffer.

 

“Still, I can hardly complain. At least now I have the opportunity to ask a few questions I’ve had since we started this,” Leonard stated off-hand, making Iris frown at him over the rim of her glass.

 

“Questions for me?” she clarified.

 

“Of course. I imagine you have a few for me, too.”

 

“Well, yeah, but I didn't think you'd agree to an interview.”

 

“True. I was thinking less interview and more us understanding each other a little better.”

 

“Strictly off the record, then.”

 

He arched a brow. “Are your dates usually on the record?” he teased.

 

“Only if they involve a supervillain,” Iris teased back, proud to see honest amusement in his smirk. “So, what exactly did you want to know? Presumably not how often my dates get interrupted by supervillains?”

 

“No, but all things considered, that could be good information to know.” He straightened, his cold, blue gaze pinning her as some of his levity fell away. “No, what I wanted to know was why the hell did you agree to this?”

 

Iris had expected the question, if perhaps not quite so baldy stated. She sipped her wine and tucked her bare feet underneath her as she considered her answer. 

 

“Did Barry ever tell you about his first girlfriend? Becky Cooper?”

 

“Can't say it's come up,” Leonard drawled. If he was surprised by the non-sequitur, he hid it well.

 

“She was Barry’s first high school girlfriend. She was, well, she was very insecure. And one of the things she hated was Barry spending time with me.”

 

“In retrospect, can you blame her?” Leonard interjected. Iris sighed and shook her head.

 

“I guess not. But the thing is, Barry being in love with me wasn't the reason he broke up with her; it was her possessive behaviour.”

 

“So, what? You’re just going along with this so Barry won't leave you?” Leonard asked with a frown.

 

“No,” Iris denied firmly, “that's not the point of the story. The point is that Barry has loved me his whole life and I highly doubt anything could change that. But just because he's always loved me doesn't mean he’s never loved anyone else,” Iris explained. “Over the years I've seen Barry fall in love a lot, and knowing that the whole time he still loved me is the reason I encouraged Barry to actually do something about his crush on you.”

 

Leonard studied her thoughtfully. In truth, Iris had been the one to call Barry out on his feelings, but it had taken her a while to come to terms with it initially. She had watched Barry pine and bury his feelings ever since Leonard had returned from the time stream. It had been a bitter pill to swallow, and she may have been in something of a foul mood over it for a while. But watching Barry suffer in silence for her sake and remembering how much Becky's possessive manipulations had hurt him had gone a long way to making her realise there might be an amicable solution to the problem. And a little reading and a lot of self-examination had led her to realise that there really was no reason not to at least try. 

 

Iris had broached the subject to Barry, who had been mortified to realise just how aware she was of the feelings he’d tried to hide, believing them to be a betrayal that she wouldn’t be able to forgive. She quickly disabused him of that notion, and shyly offered up some of the research she had been doing. They had ended up spending an entire night talking about it, negotiating and theorising, until the sun rose to find Barry buzzing with nerves at the prospect of potentially getting to have both the people he loved. Iris hadn’t been witness to the awkward attempts at courtship that followed, but she heard all about it second hand either through Barry, or over the comms during the occasional bouts between Captain Cold and the Flash. She had expected jealousy, but in truth, once she had come to terms with the fact that no one could ever truly take Barry away from her, it became more entertainment than anything else. It reminded her of the years before they got together, when she would coach Barry on relationships from the sidelines. She found that this was no different; she was rooting for him to succeed, giving advice and demanding every juicy detail.

 

“He did say that this whole...arrangement was your idea,” Leonard commented, “but I don’t think I really believed him until now.”

 

“Are you kidding?” Iris scoffed. “If I hadn’t said anything, he’d still be in denial and pretending he didn’t spend half your fights trying not to flirt.” She lifted her chin, regarding him much the way he had looked at her earlier. “What about you? Not just anyone would be willing to agree to this.”

 

Leonard tilted his head in acquiescence, an amused quirk to his lips.

 

“True, I’m not usually one to share,” he admitted, “but Barry has always been something of an exception for me. And I’m an opportunist at heart; he offered me something I thought I’d never otherwise get, so I took it.”

 

Iris frowned at his words, sipping her wine as she mulled them over.

 

“So then, are you really okay with this whole arrangement then?” she asked. “I know it’s not ideal, but I figured it was the best way to keep everybody happy.”

 

“Let me rephrase;” he answered drolly, “a gorgeous young superhero convinced his wife to let me be the exception to their monogamy. I would have been an idiot to turn that offer down.”

 

“Okay, I get it,” Iris chuckled. “Just checking. Barry and I did a lot of negotiating without you, I’m just making sure your feelings were taken into account. I am very familiar with Barry’s tendency to rush through things.”

 

“I’ll admit, there wasn’t a whole lot of talking going on that first night,” Leonard drawled, and Iris noted the pleased little smile that teased the corners of his mouth. “But he made sure to give me the full pitch the next morning. Complete with slideshow.”

 

“I actually made the slideshow,” Iris admitted sheepishly. “After everything it took to get Barry’s head around the idea, I thought you might need it.”

 

“Believe it or not, I was already familiar with the concept of polyamory.”

 

“We decided it was safer not to assume,” Iris defended. “And he told me that you took some convincing.”

 

“That was more in regards to his interest in me than the fact that you’d agreed to make me his exception.”

 

“He did mention that you took some convincing there, too,” Iris admitted with an amused smirk. “Is it true you slipped on your own ice the first time he hit on you?” she asked innocently.

 

Leonard gave her an unamused look.

 

“I will neither confirm nor deny that I tripped in pure shock at his truly terrible attempt at a pick-up line,” he stated haughtily. Iris just laughed.

 

“Be thankful he's gotten better with age.”

 

“If that's true, I shudder to think what kind of trainwreck he was before.”

 

“Just be thankful you never saw him in high school. Unless of course stammered science puns do it for you.”

 

Leonard was suspiciously silent.

 

“Oh god, puns totally do it for you!”

 

“Nothing wrong with appreciating good wordplay,” Leonard said defensively, and Iris regretted her words as some of his comfortable ease slipped away. She'd been enjoying their banter, she realised.

 

“I’m not judging,” she appeased with a shrug, before adding slyly, “whatever gets you groaning.”

 

He tried to smother a snort and Iris prided herself for the smile he failed to hide.

 

“I knew you had wit in you,” he couldn’t seem to resist responding with a pun of his own.

 

“For a reporter, it’s essential e _ quip _ ment.”

 

“Well, you’re certainly quicker of the mark than Barry.”

 

“I definitely wouldn’t call him the Scarlet Snarkster.”

 

“You would think that the Fastest Man Alive would know how to riposte haste.”

 

“I’d tell him to add it to his arsenal, but I don’t think he could handle swordplay.”

 

“In my experience, he handles swords just fine. Really knows how to make sparks fly.”

 

“Hope the sparks aren’t too hot to handle?”

 

“I know how to give him a cool head.”

 

Iris couldn’t take it anymore, she burst into a peal of cackles, her head flung back into the armchair. For his part, Leonard was shaking as he tried to muffle his laughter behind his hand. 

 

“Oh, Barry is going to regret leaving us alone together,” she wheezed.

 

“Absolutely, although I suspect he has only himself to blame. I’m starting to think he planned this.” When his hands fell away to speak, they revealed a broad, open grin that transformed his face, dropping away years and walls to leave just a handsome man enjoying a joke with a lovely young woman. In that moment, Iris absolutely understood exactly what it was that Barry saw in him.

 

“Oh?” she asked, to distract herself from her own dawning realisation.

 

“I wouldn’t put it past him to trick us into spending time together,” Leonard suggested dryly. Now that he mentioned it, that seemed like exactly the sort of thing Barry might do. And it made sense for him to want them both to get along, if only to make spending time with both of them a little easier.

 

“Well, in that case,” she said as she got to her feet, holding her free hand out to him, “I say we eat. I’m not letting dinner go cold just because Barry thinks he’s sneaky.”

 

Leonard eyed her hand with an unreadable expression for a moment before taking it and letting her help him to his feet.

 

“Mrs West-Allen, that sounds like an excellent idea.”

 

Barry had gone all out on dinner, including Iris’s favourites and a few things that she suspected Leonard might have mentioned liking. There was lasagna and enchiladas, crispy noodle salad and Grandma Esther’s Special Potato Salad, glazed roast vegetables and miniature quiches. If it weren’t for Barry’s metabolism, Iris would be worried about how they’d manage to get through it all. With just her and Leonard sitting opposite each other, the feast spread between them was almost comical. 

 

With the ice between them thoroughly broken, conversation flowed thick and easy. Iris was surprised and a little delighted to find that she was honestly enjoying herself. Leonard was an engaging conversation partner, who favoured snark and sarcasm, and was a good listener to boot. By the time the meal was winding down, Iris was a little embarrassed to realise that, even with Barry’s absence, this had felt kind of like a real date.  She wondered if Leonard felt the same; he'd seemed to enjoy himself as much as she had, and right now he was looking at her like she was some kind of fascinating puzzle he couldn't figure out.

 

“What?” she asked with a self-conscious giggle. They'd polished off the bottle of wine between them by this point, and Iris was starting to feel a little light.

 

“Just thinking,” he answered with a shrug. “Barry's lucky to have someone like you in his life.”

 

“Leonard Snart, is that flattery I detect?” she teased.

 

“Hardly flattery if it's true.”

 

“Either way, you're doing a very good job of getting into my good books.”

 

He smiled, that sweet, genuine smile she'd now seen a few times tonight.

 

“That was certainly the plan before I got here, so mission accomplished.”

 

“Oh, so the plan changed?” Iris asked as she stood and gathered their plates. “What's the new plan, then?”

 

“When Barry decided to abandon us, it was just 'survive’,” Leonard drawled. 

 

Iris laughed as she put the plates in the dishwasher. “Wow, didn't know I was that scary.”

 

“Intimidating would be more accurate, but yes, you are when you want to be.”

 

“There you go again with the flattery,” Iris accused as she returned to the table. “Careful, a girl might start to get ideas.”

 

She knew she was playing a dangerous game. But she was curious and the wine had made her bold. She saw the moment her words registered, an intrigued look sparking in his eyes as he picked up her challenge.

 

“Oh really? And exactly what kind of ideas might those be?” He pushed his chair out a little and leaned back, one arm hooked over the back of the chair. The posture put his entire frame on display; his long legs stretched out, his shirt pulling tight against the muscles in his arms and shoulders. Iris bit her lip, wagering how to continue, a little distracted when his eyes tracked the movement. Music had been playing low in the background all evening, and her ears registered the current song, making her grin impishly down at him.

 

“Like that you might make a good dance partner.”

 

She took his hand and pulled him up, surprising him with the swiftness and strength of the move. His free hand seemed to fall onto her hip entirely by instinct, and he frowned down at her slightly as she swayed them both to the music.

 

“I’m not really one for dancing,” he drawled.

 

“You seem to be doing fine right now.”

 

“This isn't dancing, this is swaying,” he pointed out with disdain.

 

“Then you have nothing to complain about.”

 

He huffed, clearly amused by her logic. He leaned forward, and for a moment, Iris was sure he was going to kiss her. 

 

“If you're going to dance,” he said instead, and abruptly spun her in an intricate twirl that left her dizzy and supported mostly by his presence against her back, “then you should do it properly.”

 

“I thought you weren't a dancer?” Iris chided as he spun her again, much slower this time so she stayed on her feet.

 

“I never said I couldn't dance, just that I don't particularly enjoy it.” He looked down at her thoughtfully. “Though I suppose this might be different since I'm not dancing with you just to swipe your jewelry.”

 

“Is it different?” Iris pressed, wondering if she'd inadvertently made him uncomfortable.

 

“Yes. But then again, that might just be because it's you.”

 

Despite the general confidence he exuded, Iris thought she could see a touch of vulnerability in him as he gazed down at her. She remembered Barry telling her how hesitant and unsure Leonard had been when Barry expressed not just sexual interest but romantic interest, something that had apparently been rather lacking in his life.

 

“Well, dancing is always different when it's with someone you care about,” Iris stated cautiously. “It's stops being just movement,” she added another spin to the simple steps he'd been leading her through, one that ended with them closer, chest to chest, “and becomes an expression.”

 

“An expression of what?” he asked carefully, not pulling away from their new position.

 

“Usually love. But in this case, I'm hoping it might be interest.”

 

Iris felt a little breathless at her forwardness, her heart racing in her chest. When she had been researching polyamory, the thought of this possibility had occurred to her. But it had not been something she'd thought either of them might want. Not until tonight.

 

“An expression of interest,” Leonard mused aloud, his smirk cautiously pleased. “Very old-fashioned of us.”

 

Iris smiled when he didn't deny her assumption or end the dance.

 

“Considering our circumstances, I'd say we were the opposite.”

 

“It’s definitely going better than Barry’s first attempt, I’ll give you that.”

 

“True on both counts.”

 

Now that it was clear that this was exactly what she thought it was, Iris sank a little more into him, their bodies now touching in a line of heat from thigh to chest. His hand slipped from her hip to the small of her back, keeping her there, their joined hands now completely entwined. She looked up into those deep blue eyes, which met hers with wonder and cautious hope. His lips were slightly parted, and she wondered how she’d never noticed how pink they were before. Iris felt an unexpected pang of jealousy when she thought about how many times her husband had kissed those lips. He smirked, and she realised that she’d been caught staring. She bit her lip and let a challenge spark in her eyes, daring him to close the distance. 

 

The next thing she knew, she was being spun and dipped. She was breathless and giggling when he pulled her back up, and it was then that he stole a kiss. It was chaste but loaded, everything that they could ever be to each other and to Barry being offered in a single gesture. Iris kissed back, feeling a shiver run down her spin as his grip on her tightened ever so slightly.

 

“I’m so, so sorry I’m late! Felicity called and they needed my help in Star City and it took a little longer than I...oh.”

 

Leonard and Iris pulled apart to see Barry standing in the doorway, looking windswept with a dessert box in his hands and a grin slowly growing on his face.

 

“So...I guess you two got along fine without me?” 

 

“Oh, so you didn’t plan this?” Leonard asked archly, Iris still held against him.

 

“Not...exactly…”

 

They both raised matching unimpressed eyebrows at him.

 

“Okay, I was supposed to be back way earlier, Felicity really did need me to run over to Star for a bit,” Barry admitted. “I just wanted you two to get a chance to get to know each other.” He stepped into the room properly and approached them, putting his box down on the table as he passed. “Which you clearly did.”

 

“Well somebody had to step up after you stood us both up,” Iris teased.

 

Barry kissed them both, still grinning. “Can I make it up to you both with fresh chocolate baked alaska?”

 

Both Iris and Leonard shared a look.

 

“Baked goods are a start,” Iris said with an exaggerated shrug.

 

“We can discuss the rest of your apology while we eat,” Leonard agreed. “But you can’t have dessert until you’ve finished dinner.” Leonard looked pointedly at the mountain of food the pair hadn’t been able to finish. “Iris and I can finish our dance while we wait.”

 

“Oh, so you like dancing now?” Iris teased.

 

“With the right people, I can certainly see the appeal. And besides,” he leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “it’s always fun to get a little revenge.”

 

Iris’s gaze flicked to where Barry now sat at the table, watching them avidly. Iris grinned wickedly at Leonard.

 

“Feel like putting on a show?”

 

“Mrs West-Allen, that is what I do best.”

 

Barry ended up being far too distracted to finish eating.

**Author's Note:**

> The song they dance to is Love On The Brain by Rihanna.


End file.
